


Who Smells of Lemon Balm

by kingkoblih



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: M/M, cupid!au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-10-25 06:23:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10758543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingkoblih/pseuds/kingkoblih
Summary: A Cupid!AU where Emil Nekola is a cupid failing at his job and Michele is the most handsome baker in Italy.





	1. Chapter 1

Emil was standing nervously at his boss’ office.

            “You had 3 months for this job and you did nothing.”

            “But... Sir, I really tried, but I couldn’t find them!”

            “Your results were always amazing, how comes you’re failing now? You even managed to find a soulmate for that creepy, gross mafia boss from the down town. What’s the problem here? Don’t tell me one average Italian guy can give you so much trouble.”

Yeah, Emil remembered that one. Not an easy job, but it was a common sense. Even the worst people on Earth had someone to lean on. One just had to search better than usually. This time was different, though.  
  
            “I don’t know what’s going on, sir, I’m telling you. It’s been three months and I sense no one with the same aura. He is convinced it’s his twin sister, but it’s definitely not her.”

            “You know what I have to do, right?”

            “Sir, please, don’t send me there,” a hint of panic could be heard in Emil’s voice. “I’m gonna go crazy from the smell of the humans!”

            “Maybe that will force you to find the soulmate faster.”

            “Please, I can-”

            “No, you can’t, Emil. I gave you three months already. Get ready, tomorrow morning I’m sending you to Earth. You know the rules. No coming back until your job is done.”

            And with those words on his mind, Emil was leaving the office. Oh, dear, he’d never been punished like this. And he didn’t know what to do, he worked hard every day for the past 3 months. He searched the whole world to find a person with the same smell Michele Crispino, the young Italian baker, was surrounded by. He found nothing. But no human was destined to be alone! This wasn’t right. He even smelled all the dogs and cats in the world to make sure Michele’s soulmate isn’t a pet (that happened once or twice, it wasn’t common, but he had to try it) and no match either. Oh dear, what was he gonna do on Earth?

                                                                                                                             ************************

            The next morning came way too quickly. Emil was visited by his boss’ people. They dressed him up, they cut his hair, they made him look like an average human being in his white button up shirt and dark blue jeans (a little bit too tight for his liking). They gave him a human ID with a bazillion of information on it.

            “Hey, this says I was born in 1998. That’s not true!” he frowned slightly.

            “We cannot write there that you are thousands and thousands of years old, Mr. Nekola. People tend to get rather suspicious,” one of the men explained in a calm voice. He continued speaking, even though Emil was taking a breath in to respond. “You are going to work at the bakery as Mr. Crispino’s assistant. Everything is arranged, no one will ask anything. At the back of your ID there is an address of your new residence. Here are your keys,” Emil was given a key ring with two keys on it, “, and here is your wallet. You have enough money for this month. You do not have to care about your rent. Do not forget this currency is valid only in Italy. We will send you more every 10th of the month.”

            “Hopefully you won’t have to…” Emil murmured, more to himself than to anyone else. He didn’t want to go there. He so didn’t want to. A hand landed on his shoulder, giving him a gentle squeeze.

            “We will see you soon, Mr. Nekola, I am sure about it. Our superior would not send you down there if he was not absolutely sure you would be back in no time,” the man said with a hint of a smile on his face.

            “I better. And you can be sure I’ll hang out in boss’ office every day just to make him smell me. Geez, that will take months to get rid of the stink,” Emil joked and checked if his pockets contained everything he needed. One last deep breath and Emil said good bye to the life he’d been living for the past two thousand years.

            Before he realized what happened, the beautiful whiteness around him disappeared and a breeze mixed with car fumes hit his nose. He was standing in the middle of a small side alley in the town he spent the past three months searching through. A quick glance around, there were no people who could see him. Good. Emil walked to the main street and quickly made his way to the Crispinos bakery.

            It was a small shop, very traditional, the door was always open and everything in the ten-meter radius around the shop smelled like freshly baked bread. Sometimes a scent of sweet pastry peeked through, that was on Wednesdays and Saturdays when they baked croissants and donuts on top of the usual bread and baguettes. Emil looked inside from the other side of the street. Behind the glass windows he could see people, sitting at the little retro tables, having their morning coffee with their usual breakfast. Reading newspapers, chatting, getting ready for the busy day… Some human habits were still strange to Emil, but this time he didn’t have much time to think about it.

            As he walked towards the entrance door, his face scrunched up into a funny grimace. _Oh no, it’s starting_ , he thought. The smell of bread was interrupted by so many others. The car fumes. A perfume of the lady standing by the door. A cologne of the man standing in the queue, waiting for his breakfast. The little girl holding mom’s hand, looking inside the shop, smelled like apples and sunshine. The beautiful young woman behind the counter, he already knew her name was Sara, smelled like pansies and a glass of an ice cold lemonade. The older guy hitting on her, desperately trying to get her number, smelled like sawdust and petrol. And then, when he finally entered the shop, he was hit by the oh-so-familiar scent of lemon balm, oranges and cloves. He saw Michele behind the counter, bringing in freshly baked snacks. Emil’s heart skipped a beat. He’d never seen Michele up this close.

            “You must be Emil, right?” he was dragged back into reality by Sara’s high, friendly voice. “Mickey, take care of him, please. Give him an apron and… You know the drill. Get to work, boys!”

            And so Emil stood at the big kitchen, an apron around his waist, not knowing anything about baking. Not knowing anything about humans. Not knowing when he would be able to go back home.


	2. Tell the Truth

_BANG!_

“I’m sorry! I- I really apologize, I’m sorry!” Emil got on his knees to pick up the glass shards spread on the floor. This was the second bowl he’d managed to break that day. He did all his new Italian boss told him to and he was a quick learner, but that was not enough to make up for the fact his fingers were apparently made of banana peels. It was already five in the afternoon and they were cleaning the kitchen up while Sara was busy trying to sell the last pieces of baked goods to people just returning from work. Emil heard the sound of the plastic trash bin being pushed towards him on the tiled floor. Again.

“That’s gonna get cut from your paycheck,” Michele sighed and leaned his back on the counter above Emil, watching the new-comer cleaning up the floor with a panicked expression on his face. Of course that was going to get cut from his paycheck, Emil knew that. And, for the love of God, he wasn’t able to understand why he became so clumsy the second he walked inside the kitchen. He’d never been like this! What was going on?! He looked up quickly, Michele looked slightly annoyed. Not angry, but definitely frowning. When Emil finally got up and started taking his apron off, Michele’s hand landed on his shoulder.

“Now, tell me the truth, will you?”

Emil froze.

“The… truth?” he mumbled. His tongue was suddenly glued to his palate and he wasn’t able to spit out an intelligible sentence. His brain, on the other hand, was working in an enormous speed. _Does he know? But how would he find that out? Humans can’t sense us… Or can they? This can’t be happening! If he realized I’m not human, the boss is gonna tear my head off, Jesus Christ…_

“Uh… Well… The truth, um… I…” he muttered, trying to avoid eye contact with Michele, who was still holding onto his shoulder tightly not to let him escape.

“You have never worked in a bakery before, have you?” Michele asked, his eyes piercing Emil’s as he frowned. A heavy weight fell from Emil’s shoulders and he let out heavy a sigh of relief.

“Oh, that… Well,” he rubbed the back of his neck with an awkward smile. “Is it that obvious?”

“Yes. Yes, it is _that obvious_. You have no idea what you’re doing, do you?” Michele finally let go of him.

“What’s going on here?” Sara peeked inside the kitchen, her eyes wide with curiosity.

“He’s not a real baker. He lied to us,” Michele jerked his head towards Emil.

“Oh, Mickey…”

“Don’t _oh, Mickey_ me, Sara! We need to find someone else,” Michele barked out, now visibly angry. Emil knew about his fits of anger, but he never thought he’d bring one to Michele, yet alone this quickly.

“Wait! Please, don’t fire me,” his gaze travelled between Sara and Michele quickly as he was not sure who he was even talking to. “I really need this job!”

Michele sighed. He seemed calmer, but the annoyance in his voice was still lingering around.

“If you need money, there are plenty places around here looking for employees,” he said as he was taking off his own apron. He didn’t look at Emil again as he considered this conversation being over.

“It’s not about money! I don’t need any job, I need _this_ job! Please!” Emil’s voice was now full of despair. He couldn’t fail something this many people worked on. Who knew how many things they had to alter and change up in heaven just to get him there. He couldn’t afford bringing his superiors any more trouble.

Luckily for him, Sara stepped in with a kind smile. That was something Emil saw on her very often. Even with the most annoying customers, Sara always smiled and kept her cool. She was a pure heart and he liked watching her along with her brother.

“Now, calm down, Emil, we won’t fire you,” she said to much surprise of her brother.

“We’re not?” Michele growled.

“No, we’re not, Mickey,” Sara repeated and gently placed her hand on Emil’s shoulder, exactly on the place where Michele had been holding him just a second ago. “We need the help. Even if you were just to clean up for us. And don’t give me that sour face, Mickey, if Emil wasn’t here, you would be working for another two hours at least.”

“I don’t mind working here!” Michele protested.

“But you need some free time, too! You can’t be just closed here all day long, you need to make some friends and have a life. We already talked about it,” Sara silenced him before turning back to Emil. “Besides, no one else has replied to our ad for months… “

“Ugh. Fine,” Michele agreed in the end and placed his apron on the counter. “But you’ll only do the cleaning and helping. No baking on your own. You’re terrible,” he pointed a finger at Emil.

Emil’s lips stretched into a wide smile and his eyes widened as he replied an enthusiastic “Yes!”.

And, so, for the next three weeks, his life fell into a human-like routine. Get up, run to work, let Michele yell at him, have lunch, have Michele yell at him some more, finish work, go home. Every day except Sundays. It was extremely tiring and, what was worst, Michele refused to talk to him. How was he supposed to find out his soulmate when Michele refused to tell him anything about himself? And, most importantly, when Emil couldn’t even find time to look for the soulmate in the first place?


End file.
